Managing School Paperwork
It happened — my baby, whose spit up created extra laundry, starting making a new kind of organizational challenge — school paperwork.
The first piece of paperwork came from his swim lessons. I signed him up for the summer session that went from the end of June to August. About half way through the lessons, his swim instructor sent home his first (EVER!) “report card” or “progress report.” I was so happy to see he mastered all the skills. Ok. Let’s be real…this is a mommy and me class…this positive report also reflected my skills. (Hahah!)
I put it on the fridge because that is what you do.
Then, he started pre-school. (How did that happen? How did he start pre-school already?)
Anyway. Preschool involves a lot of activities — art seems to be a big one. After being there just two weeks, he brought home 1 painting and 2 marker master pieces. At this rate my home will be full of his art in next week or so.
I did some quick math. He has about 14 years left of school. There are about 40 weeks in a school year. If he brings home an average of 10 sheets of paper every week for all those years, then he will bring home 5,600 sheets of paper. This is 56 reams of paper to manage!
This, my friends, will for sure require a system.
So for me, there are two general kinds of paperwork that come home from school.
First, there is the functional kind — calendars, menus, field trips, etc.
Second, there is the sentimental kind — the art, the projects, the evidence that my kid has mastered a difficult skill.
Before I delve into the specifics of a system, I want to discuss the differences for a second. Functional paperwork requires your immediate attention and is giving you important information. Where as the sentimental paperwork pulls at your heart strings and tell you something very special about your child. It might be something only you know. For example, my son brought home a random looking picture - but we thought it looked a bit like a face. However, when we questioned him about it, he said it was, “Mommy.” Later he told me about drawing a picture of me. For those of you who’ve followed me for any about of time, you probably know that this sentimental mama melted a bit.
And I have to keep my baby’s first drawing of me.
And. Also. There is the paper plate butterfly that he talks about all the time.
And I have to keep that too.
But really. I cannot. I live in a Manhattan apartment that cannot keep up with this kind of artistic production.
And, then there is the functional paperwork — calendars, field trip permission slips, Covid-19 procedures, etc.
For me, the first part of managing school paperwork is recognizing there are some papers I need to keep my kid safe and happy in school. These are the functional papers. And, then there are some papers that I have this emotional attachment too. The emotional attachment is important, but it requires a different kind of organizational system than the functional papers will.
Now, for the practical. Here is how you can manage your kids paperwork in the coming year.
Determine if the paper is sentimental or functional?
Check your child’s bag everyday for papers. When you look at the paper, decide if the paper is sentimental or functional. You essentially need to systems — one for the sentimental papers and one for the functional papers.
We’ll start with a system for functional papers:
This system is a modification of the larger paperwork management system I suggest people use.
For this system, you will need two folders. I suggest you get two colors of folders.
One folder is for the active papers that you will need to access within the next 6 months. Papers like field trip permission slips or calendars you need to reference go in this folder. Put the papers you need to sign on top of the pile and/or clip them to the front of the folder.
You need another folder for the inactive papers that you will need to access within the school year. These might be reports of progress or forms related to health and registration. If you child is in a private program, you might want to keep a copy of the contract in this folder.
Most importantly, every time your child gets a progress report, take 5 minutes to go through these folders. Only toss the papers you know you absolutely do not need.
Finally, at the end of the year, go through the active folder and move the documents you will need for the next school year into your inactive folder.
Start the process all over again in the next school year.
Sentimental papers require a much longer term decision about your approach to your kids’ paperwork. You will find three approaches below. You can choose which approach best fits you.
The minimalist approach. Find a spot to hang up your child’s work. When they bring in another paper, toss the old paper and hang up the new one.
The minimalist leaning towards organizing approach. Get a binder or folder that you can use to store all of the sentimental papers your child gets. After you hang up the work, put the work in that binder. At the end of the school year, clean out the binder or folder. Do this every year. Your goal is to keep it down to one binder or one folder’s worth of work for their entire educational career.
The organizers approach. Get a file box with hanging file folders. Create a folder for each year. During the school year hand up your kids’ biggest achievements. Keep all of the ones you love in the file box. When the year ends, go through and consolidate it down to one folder for the year.
If you child is over the age of 10, then I would ask them how much they want to keep. Some kids (like me) will be very sentimental. This is a really great opportunity to help them learn how to manage their own paperwork. I would say this is especially important if your child is like I was — very sentimental. I tried to keep all of the things in the world that related to my favorite teacher or my favorite class. This child will for sure need your guidance in this area.
Click here to get a copy of the School Paperwork Management tool from M.O.M. You can use it as your guide for a difficult school year.
